The Herald

Blair's Blood Price and Us Electoral Politics

WHEN challenged by John Kerry about invading Iraq in the face of world opinion and about the mounting number of deaths of American soldiers in that country, during one of the recent televised presidential debates, George W Bush replied that the US was there as part of a coalition. He also stated that soldiers of other nationalities had been killed in action. When Bush referred to his coalition partners, Tony Blair was singled out for praise. Approximately 160,000 American troops are in Iraq. ...

Calmac's Contempt for Its Customers

JACK McConnell is interesting himself in China. Perhaps he should direct his attention to problems much nearer home which are much more within his responsibilities. I refer, of course, to that famous sacred cow of the executive, CalMac's management. The week does not go past without letters to the various newspapers in the west coast complaining about the utter contempt with which it treats its customers. The requirement that customers must purchase their tickets on the shore before they boar...

China Trade Promotion Is Not New to Scotland

FOR the past 10 years, China-Britain Business Council's (CBBC) Scotland office, based in Glasgow, has been assisting Scottish companies export, set up in and trade with China. In the past six months, we have worked with more than 20 businesses and to date CBBC Scotland boasts more than 40 member companies from across the country, 10% of the CBBC total, and 15 more than SDI claims is on its books. The majority of these are SMEs from sectors including agri-business, engineering, electronics, te...

The Debate On Health Reforms Professor Kerr Should Report a Balanced National View

SO far it has largely been a dialogue of the deaf. Now the controversy over cutbacks and centralisation of hospital services in Scotland is starting to take a refreshing turn. David Kerr's choice of venue for the launch of the public debate into the future shape of the health service was a good one. Inverclyde Royal Hospital in Greenock has been the scene of some of the fiercest opposition to proposed cutbacks to services, with 56,000 people signing a petition opposing the health board's plans.

First, Understand the Business World of East Asia

Andrew Lockhart Walker's letter of October 18 about language teaching is timely and accurate. I would like to take it one stage further. I have recently returned to Scotland after retiring as founding dean of both a graduate and an undergraduate faculty of business communication in central Japan's top-ranked business school. I can speak with some authority on the subject in relation to east Asia. I was also director of the Centre for Japanese Studies at Stirling University on a dual appointme...

Mindset Gap Between Scots and English

"Scotland is not an important country" - so says historian Dr David Starkey (October 18). Unwittingly, in one sentence, he illustrates the mindset gap between the Scots and the English. We see things differently - perhaps because we are small and for years had to resist the aggressive attentions of our much larger neighbour - and we recognise that all countries are important. "Could Scotland have had an empire of its own?" he goes on to ask. Only an Englishman would ask the question, because ...

Briefing: Nine Songs

The Michael Winterbottom-directed film has been passed uncut by the British Board of Film Classification. Q: And?

Protecting Our Children; Using the Law Is the Best Way to Minimise Risk

SURELY there is something we could have done to protect young Mark Cummings. That is the feeling that will be shared by social workers, police and the family of the eight-year-old from Royston, Glasgow. Assault, abuse and murder of a child is always shocking, but far more so when those crimes were committed by a known paedophile. It leads inevitably to questions over who, or what, was to blame. Sometimes there is no answer. Stuart Leggate had three previous convictions for sex offences, commi...

George Brown; Actuary Who Helped Liberate Greece's Dodecanese Islands

As a former Rover Scout, George Brown always liked to be prepared. So, when he reached his allotted three score years and 10, the first thing he did was to prepare a tape for his own funeral service. He considered that after the age of 70, any time he had was a bonus. Born in Edinburgh days before the end of the First World War, he was brought up in Penicuik with his elder brother, Jack. At the local public school, he won a scholarship to George Heriot's School in Edinburgh. He achieved certi...

From the Herald Archives

25 YEARS AGO MR George Younger spelled out his cutback in jobs at St Andrew's House, which civil service unions say will mean a loss of 1000 jobs. Union leaders were given 36 options by Mr Younger for reducing the functions of the Scottish Office over the next two-and-a-half years, and were told of the areas in which the axe was likely to fall. Mr Steve Cardownie, Scottish Office branch secretary of the Civil and Public Services Association, said the talks had proved consultations on the prop...

Being Patronised by a High Tory Historian of the Patriotic Old School

Monarchy by David Starkey Channel 4, 9.00pm What Not to Wear BBC1, 7.00pm IT pays, I find, to beware patriotic historians. It is doubly important to keep an eye on the variety of chauvinist who mentions the difference between English and British only as an afterthought, not least when he is discussing 1500 years of "our" monarchy.

Dawson Secures Fresh Capital

Enthusiasm for Pension Saving

Fsa Monitors Investigation Into Us Insurance Industry

BRITAIN'S main financial regulator yesterday confirmed it is monitoring developments in a high-level probe into corruption in the US insurance industry. Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney-general, sent shockwaves through the industry last week when he launched an investigation into the alleged rigging of bids in exchange for big fees.

Fraud Costs Uk Firms (Pounds) 40bn a Year

Henlys Poised for Liquidation

Levi Pulls Dockers Off Auction Block

Mcconechy's Tyre Services Full-Year Profits Motor Ahead

McCONECHY'S Tyre Services has reported a healthy rise in underlying profits after buying 30 outlets from Goodyear and Dunlop. The family-owned company will shortly increase the number of its servicing operations to more than 50 across Scotland, with the opening of a new flagship retail branch on the south side of Glasgow.

Union Calls for End to North Sea Oil and Gas Hoarding; Major Companies Attacked for Blocking Exploration

UNION officials have called on the government to act to stop oil majors hoarding North Sea oil and gas assets by introducing a new "inactivity tax" on fields that are left idle. Amicus, which represents workers in activities like drilling that have been hit hard by a downturn in North Sea exploration, wants ministers to get tough on giants it believes are obstructing efforts of smaller fry to step up activity.

How Common Sense Is Starting to Prevail Over the Chancer's Charter; the Victimhood Cult May Have Peaked, Says John Hatfield, but Protection Is Still to Be Desired

The blame game appears to be more popular than Scrabble these days, and is reckoned to cost the UK some (pounds) 10bn a year. The whole issue of manufacturers' liability is highly topical. In the last couple of weeks, everything from second hand Royal Navy submarines to anti-depressant drugs linked to suicidal tendencies have come under scrutiny.